Perhaps like most people, Kelsey Roberts figured that osteoarthritis is mainly a product of age and bad luck.
Following her summer internship at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, the Chisholm High School graduate and aspiring physician assistant knows otherwise.
Working in the lab of OMRF physician-scientist Matlock Jeffries, M.D., Roberts studied how bacteria-derived substances might drive osteoarthritis – and how interfering with the body’s sensing of these substances might slow the disease.
“Our goal has been to find out whether certain bacterial DNA elevates or inhibits the expression of knee osteoarthritis, using a synthetic replica of cells naturally found in joints affected by arthritis,” Roberts said.
Preparing for her junior year at Oklahoma State University, the microbiology major was among 16 Fleming Scholars who interned at OMRF this summer.
The eight-week program, founded in 1956, provides biomedical research experience to college students, including incoming freshmen, who attended an Oklahoma high school. It is named for Sir Alexander Fleming, the famed British scientist who discovered penicillin and in 1949 came to Oklahoma City to formally dedicate OMRF’s first building.
“Kelsey is incredibly intelligent and hard-working, and she generated data that we will be studying in more detail for many months to come,” Jeffries said. “I’m hopeful her work will help us uncover the role of bacterial-driven inflammation in cartilage destruction.”
Learning the role of gut bacteria in osteoarthritis was just one of many discoveries Roberts made this summer.
“I have learned how to use lab tools like pipettes and centrifuges, and I have learned why labs use minus-4 Celsius freezers, minus-80 Celsius freezers and liquid nitrogen tanks,” she said. “The process I am most proud of learning is how to successfully extract RNA from cells.”
Roberts called her internship “a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” and said the patience, attention to detail and critical-thinking skills she gained will serve her well into her career.
“I have also learned how the research conducted at OMRF is so important to improving the quality of life for people everywhere,” she said. “I’m humbled and honored to have had this opportunity.”
To learn more about the Fleming Scholars program, visit omrf.org/fleming.
